Oct 14

Customer loyalty is a big thing. In fact, more than half of the marketers recently surveyed by Forrester Research said they were investing more in customer loyalty programs in 2013 over 2012. But with all that money being spent, only 45% of retail customers enroll in a store’s loyalty program. The good news: only 33% of retail customers actually redeem the rewards.

Carolyn Goodman writes about the Complexity of Loyalty for Target Marketing’s website this month, too. She focuses on the growth of airline loyalty programs and how they’ve gone astray. Too much of a good thing, perhaps?

The last piece in the loyalty puzzle relates to the power of the word-of-mouth referral. P.J. Bednarski writes about the comparable values of a Facebook or Twitter referral versus a referral from a real-live person whom you actually know.

The death of media advertising could be the end of traditional PR. Seriously. PR News’ Tony Silber makes a cogent case that the problems faced by traditional media advertising could result in a smaller news hole and, in turn, make old-fashioned media relations that much harder for traditional PR pros.

Is fear the consultant’s enemy? Scott Berkun, writing in the Harvard Business Review, challenges consultants to go work with the people who pay for their advice. But they won’t, according to Berkun, because they’re afraid. They should try it, though, they might learn something …

Solving the online registration puzzle. If you manage or host events, you’re constantly challenged with finding an efficient and effective registration and audience management system. Here’s a checklist of ten decision points to walk through when making your choice.

Lifehacks are big. As life gets more complex and we spend more time in “the cloud” – gaining control over our electronic life will become an ever-increasing issue. Jill Duffy provides some useful tips on managing passwords in PC Magazine.